AS score: a novel score for predicting clinical outcomes in upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Abstract

Background: Upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding (UGIB) is an significant cause of admission to emergency departments and hospitalizations.

Aims: The aim of our study was to compare the pre-endoscopic risk scores used in the literature with our new score (AS score) in patients admitted to the emergency department due to upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB).

Methods: A total of 541 patients admitted to the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital due to UGIB were included in the study. Pre-endoscopic risk scores and AS score were compared in terms of the need for hospitalization, need for intensive care, need for endoscopic treatment, and mortality.

Results: All of the scores analysed in the study were found to be effective in predicting the need for hospitalization, the need for intensive care, the need for endoscopic treatment, and mortality. The most effective score in predicting mortality was the AS score. In addition, the sensitivity of the AS score was higher than the other scores in predicting the need for intensive care.

Conclusions: The AS score is a new tool that may be useful in the management of patients admitted to the emergency department due to UGIB because of its advantages, such as not including laboratory parameters, being calculated in a very short time in the triage area at the time of patient presentation, and being integrated with the Charlson comorbidity index.